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One of the most common questions an author gets asked is where did the idea for your story come from. I know exactly how the idea for Frozen Hearts happened.

I listen to a lot of music and one night, I stumbled upon a track by The Fray called Be Still. The moment the haunting music started an idea formed in my head.I listened to the song again and the story idea roared. I grabbed my computer and started to write the almost end of a story.

Even to this day, when the music starts, I’m whisked back to the experience of writing that heart wrenching scene. I hope I did the song justice. And maybe I wrote the scene so well that the reader will know exactly where the song fits.

And if you go through the valley
And the shadow comes down from the hill
If morning never comes to beBe still be still be still

I’m watching hockey. Big Surprise. Anyway, I thought I’d post a blog I did when I was on Dreamspinner’s Blog…just in case you missed it. Plus I thought it was cool. And I may have added a few things since I made the original post.

Tons of people have bucket lists. I have specific bucket lists. Like a travel bucket list, a People I’d like to meet bucket list, a Sportsbucket list…

Ah, a sports bucket list. Yes, indeed, I have a sports bucket list. Some wishes are absolutely insane and will probably never happen but some are realistic and have happened. So without a drum role or the nat’l anthem, here is my Sports bucket list.

Attend a World or US National figure skating championship … I’ve seen a ton of figure skating shows, but never a world-class competition.

Attend the Masters. Ever since Tiger Woods burst onto the scene, that tournament has intrigued me. At the beginning of his career, Master’s badges were selling for $10,000 per badge. Yes, people were paying ten grand for four days of golf. Crazy. I mean, you don’t even get an assigned seat, unless you pay someone to race for a hole with your chair in hand when they open the gates. Or I suppose you could do it yourself…

Attend all four grand slam events for tennis. Australian Open, The French Open, Wimbledon, and The US Open. I’ve attended several tennis matches and seen some of the world’s best play. My mini plays tennis, maybe she’ll get me there.

The Olympics. I don’t care if it’s summer or winter and I would be one of those people who would attend every event possible. From the obscure to the feature sports.

Attend a Frozen Four… college hockey equivalent of the Stanley cup. To make it more special, please have my alma mater winning the event.

A world class gymnastics competition. Because gymnasts are totally insane.

See a leg of the Tour de France, preferably a mountain time trial or a mountain stage going up Mont Ventoux

Wear a crazy hat and witness the Kentucky Derby

I’ve had the opportunity to see some awesome competitions. I’ve seen a game 7 during the Stanley cup playoffs. Granted it was in round one, but the game was magnificent, even though my team lost. I’ve been to a Superbowl, a ton of professional basketball and hockey games. I was even on the kiss cam at Joe Louis arena in Detroit. Unfortunately, I was with my brother so the fans booed us when we didn’t kiss. Fun times. I was at a World Curling championship. And yes, I wanted to be there. I love playing the game and watching it.

I watched an all-star basketball practice where Shaq stood close to me. He’s very tall and large. During that same event, I knocked on Jason Kidd’s hotel room door to give him tickets. When he opened the door, he was in his boxers. I shoved the tickets in his hand and asked him to autograph a basketball. I’m not sure how I found my way out of the hotel after seeing a pro basketball player almost naked.

During a Superbowl pregame event, I thought Lynn Swan was a FedEX guy. We were in an elevator with the guy. Give me a break. He had on blue pants and a polo shirt and carried several FedEx envelopes. My friend laughed his head off at me. I also met Joe Theisman that same day. He’s a very nice guy. I refrained from asking about his broken leg.

A few times when I was sitting in the front row at an ice show, I found it quite difficult not reach out and grab a handful of ass. My God, those figure skaters have rock hard ass muscles and they wear skintight pants that highlight everything!

Maybe your sports bucket list involves watching your child chase after their goals. For me, this past year was filled with watching my daughter win her first “big” tennis tournament, and win her first state title in fastpitch softball. It was glorious watching her joy.

Or maybe, your bucket lists involve you competing in something? I’d love to skate with some pro hockey players… Just skate… Note: I will be wearing figure skates though. Or curl with some world-class curlers.

Or are there specific stars you’d love to meet?

Hmmm…. My list? Rafael Nadal, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews (cuz they’re a set), Brian Boitano, Lance Armstrong (I have my reasons – okay, my journalist instincts might kick in. He fascinates me), Charles Barkley (I’ve stood next to him and got his autograph, but didn’t have a conversation with the man. I love his sarcastic sense of humor), I could go on forever.

So, give me some of your sports bucket lists? Maybe you want to see some obscure sport like the cricket world championships. Okay, I made that up. I don’t know how the world of cricket works. Badminton? Ping Pong? Beach Volleyball? I could get behind some beach volleyball. On the beach, with scantily clad guys smashing a ball.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to check out my book, Picks & Pucks. It’s on Amazon, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, (Seriously I had no idea there were all these Amazons) AllRomance or click on the book cover to get over to Dreamspinner.

Let’s just get this out of the way. I’m about blogged out AND I have a new release on Monday where I will be spending the day…wait for it… blogging on the Dreamspinner Blog. I’ve spent the last few days trying to figure out what the heck I’m going to talk about ALL DAY! And to top it off, I’m always a little freaked out on release day. Because it’s release day and with this particular story, no one has read it except my editors, which I suppose is totally wacked. I have no idea why didn’t send it to my beta.

The same thing is going on with my evil, still-nameless WiP. The story is making me crazy. I’m so close to finishing the first book of two that each time I open the doc I catch a glimpse of the finish line. But days like today, the damn line keeps blurring and I wonder if I’m ever going to type Fin. Plus, I’m a little nervous about where this story will fit. The first book the MC’s are 18 years old and still in high school. Although they’ve known of each other for years, their romance starts quickly and turns into a ranging forest fire in a matter of days. I tried to age the guys up, but it didn’t work. I tried to do flashbacks, but that failed too. They demanded I tell their story in chronological order. Stupid characters can be so demanding sometimes.

And to add another cherry to my already overloaded plate, I need to figure out what sort of cover art I want for Frozen Hearts, which will be released in August 2014.

Sigh…I suck… I promised myself I would become more of a consistent blogger, but I’ve failed miserably. I think it’s because I’ve been trying to write in between checking my email for a word back from my publisher. Will they like the manuscript I sent them … or not…Checking one’s email 500 hundred times a day takes a lot of commitment and time.

I’ve also been working on a new story tentatively titled Picks & Pucks…It’s been driving me mad. (oh, and for those who don’t get the title, it’s figure skating and hockey) I can’t decide how I want to tell the story. The only thing that has been consistent is the Point of View is written in first person. Other than that…it’s a free for all. The big problem is whether I want to include flashbacks in the story. Maybe I should just throw it out there as a question.

Flashbacks or not?

Do readers like flashbacks or do you just want to hear backstory in general conversation or thoughts. Do you like the entire scene laid out or just bits and pieces?

Besides the flashback issue, I also had a character, who started as just background noise, make it known that he needed to be part of the main story. He wanted a larger role. His story needed to be heard. I tried to shut the little shit up, but he kept shouting until I finally tore up my loose outline and used it as confetti. I should have known better. I’m so not an outliner. It never works out and I end up feeling like I wasted valuable time sketching out something that will never happen. The only thing I stick to is writing the “almost end” (please refer to an earlier blog entry to learn about writing the “almost end.”)

I’m getting sidetracked again. I still believe I need minions. They could keep me focused and give me goals and keep me from looking at Tumblr and checking my email and limit my time spent oogling guys. Um, maybe not…

Okay, so if you have any thoughts about the use of flashbacks in a story, let me know…If not, well, have a good day. I’ll be here fighting with this story and checking my email and oogling cute guys

Frozen Hearts is officially available on the Silver website. To say I’m pleased would be quite an understatement. It’s been a strange journey. I wrote the book last year, signed a contract in Sept of 2012 and the book was released on March 2, 2013. In between, I wrote three short stories, and one novel, which is currently in the hands of one of my beta readers. I also have a couple other novels in the works. In reality, I haven’t really thought about Erik and Tyce. Well, the book has been out less than two days and a few people have started asking and commenting about a sequel. I can honestly say, I’ve never even given it a thought? Until now…only time will tell if I decide to continue the saga of Erik and Tyce.

For those who have read the story, this is a special place for Erik and Tyce.

If you’ve never skated outdoors, you don’t know what you’re missing. I was one of those lucky kids who had a mom and dad who built a rink in our backyard. We even had a light perched in a tree so we could skate at night.

Like this:

Yep, Frozen Hearts will be available tomorrow. I’ll let you in on a secret, this story came about because of a song and one paragraph. All writers get their ideas from somewhere and Frozen Hearts was sparked by Be Still by The Fray. I won’t post any spoilers here, but after you’ve read the story, feel free to email me and I’ll tell you what section I wrote while listening to that song on a continuous loop.

Tonight, when my novel becomes available, I’ll be at a hockey game. How fitting is that? I know it won’t be March 2, 2013, in my corner of the world, but the story will go live before it strikes midnight here.

I hope all that purchase the story like it as much as I enjoyed writing about Erik and Tyce. I know not everyone will like the thing and they’ll let me know in no uncertain terms…Yeah, I’m ready for that too. I’ll be wearing my suit of armor with the big pointy things on the shoulders. I’ve come to the conclusion that no matter what you do, some people just like to hate on it. And it’s okay, because I tell my poor fragile ego that “hey, your writing triggered emotion.”

Like this:

In one week, Frozen Hearts, will be released. This will be my first novel. I’ve had a few short stories released but this is the first story that isn’t part of an anthology. The best thing was getting my own cover. To say I was happy when the art work showed up in my email is a freaking understatement. All right, I may have cried…just a little…

The story focuses on Erik Fox, the best college hockey player in the nation. He’s hanging up his skates because he’s tired of living a lie. Five years ago, Erik was forced by his father to change schools in the middle of the night when his father found out about his indiscretion. Erik had a boyfriend and hockey players do not date boys.

With his college career over, Erik is determined to change his life. Can Erik make peace with the boy he left behind and find the life he wants to live, or is he going to fold under the pressure from his father and everyone else who thinks he is defined by the game of hockey.

Next week when the book releases, I will be at a hockey game. Pretty fitting.